For lunch I just had some left over chili and grapes. In my past life I wouldn't have dreamed of eating chili without cheese grated over it. It's funny how the sacrifices don't seem as great in this project as they would in any other scenario. If you had told me that I couldn't eat cheese for a month for any reason I would have considered it some kind of torture, it would have consumed my thoughts and I would be constantly trying to devise a way around the rules, an exception, a reason I needed to eat cheese. But I didn't even miss it. It didn't occur to me until much later that it was odd that I didn't have any cheese on my chili. I think it comes down to the fact that it is not a restriction. I can have cheese if I want to, I just have to make it. Of course, it would take me roughly three months to make cheddar cheese to grate over my chili, and that being the case, I might not consider that a worthy expenditure of three months work... but I could, and that is the whole point. I have a book on cheese making that I took from my friend EM's house while watching her cat. (Can I borrow your cheese book EM?) She is out of town on business and the cat has not given any indication that she was going to make a goat's milk chevre in the meantime. I have read the introduction, but have not gotten to any actual recipes. I have to admit I am a little gun shy after the Queso Blanco incident back in October. That has to be my least successful venture thus far, and I am not eager to repeat it. But a life without cheese cannot go on indefinitely, I fear it would change my whole personality and not in a good way. So I will make it my goal in the next week to investigate the world of cheese making again.
For dinner I made Pasta Bolognese for my little guy. He loved it. I served it with little shell pastas that he could pick up with his fat little hands so he was delighted to eat independently like a real big guy.
I made a very large batch because I wanted to cook the ground beef before it got suspect, so I thought I should eat it too, since he won't get through it in a reasonable amount of time. It was pretty good and fresh tasting... a little bland, I added salt and pepper to my portion, but that works better if it's cooked in. However, I think it is probably better the next day anyway.
I finished up the day with my ration of apple pie. Still delicious a day later, cold and without whipped cream. That crust really is flaky.
On to today, Baby J escalated his nighttime antics by waking up at 9:30pm, 12am, 3:30am, 4:30am and finally 5:45am. DR took the shift this time, and I slept until 9am, because I am a selfish bum. I had a breakfast of oatmeal with banana and sugar that DR had made hours before.
In an effort to prove myself valuable to the family, I made a Cherry Pie. DR was hosting the first read through of the next play he is directing, The Sidhe. There is a lengthy discussion of cherry pie in this show, so we thought it would be a fitting snack for the read through. Cherries are out of season, so I had to use frozen, but I think it turned out well. I did go back to the temperamental starlet, the crust made with shortening. This time I used half the amount of shortening though. Also, It was the only thing I was making at the time, and it wasn't 400ยบ in the kitchen. So it was easier, but still difficult. I couldn't get it to roll out nicely into a wide enough single piece to cover the pie pan. That is if I could have picked it up and moved it to the pie pan. The pieces were bigger, and less crumbly, but I still had to piece it together on the bottom of the pan. For the top I did a lattice, and that part actually worked out well. Though I was on the phone when I was placing the strips and I kind messed up the under-overs, but that is beside the point. Anyway, the crust didn't quite match the flaky-perfection of the apple pie crust, but it was easier to work with, so I think the trade off was fair.
For lunch I had some left over Bean Soup and of course a piece of bread with butter. I had a piece of pie with whipped cream after the actors left.
For dinner we had what we like to call Depression Dinner. It's a pretty simple stir fry of ground beef, lentils, onions, potatoes and tomatoes with garlic salt, salt and pepper. It would probably have been an outrageously luxurious meal in the Depression with all that meat, but by our spoiled 21st Century standards it has an old-fashioned gruel-like quality. But it's actually remarkably tasty and filling.
After dinner I made some meatballs for future Baby J meals. Then I began the one week adventure that will be Bacon Making. I am so excited about this. My local grocery, Figueroa Produce special ordered a 5 pound pork belly for me. I cut it into three pieces and right now they are curing in slightly different brines in the refrigerator. In a week when the curing and smoking process is complete I will write a whole post about it. For now I am going to eat my nightly ration of Apple Pie and watch a movie.
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